Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5371, 3 February 1879, Page 3

DESTRUCTIVE FIUES I_\ T OTAHUHU AXD PAPATOITOI DISTRICTS. £1200 WORTH OF HAY AND CORK DESTROYED. SUPPOSED IXCEXDIAKISiI. The farming neighbourhood of Otahuliu and Papatoitoi and Mangere have for a series of years possessed an uuenviablo notoriety in the matter of destructive tires, which have consumed largo quantities of grain, hay, and produce. Last year the district was in a great measure flee from visitations o£ this sort, but early oa January 25, between the hours of three aad five o'clock, the work of incendiarism was commeuecd and extended to three farmsteads, resulting in the total destruction of hay and corn-stacks estimated to be worth more than £l"2tjo. The following are the facts so far as they are known at present. At about nine o'clock in the morning Mr. Thomas Honors, a settler ill Papatoisoi, rode into town and informed the p dice that at an early hour that morning, seven stacks, three of which were oats and four wheat, had been burned to the ground, and that other iirea had occurred in the neighbourhood, all evidently the work of an incendiary. Detective Jelirey was at once despatched with Mr. Kogers, the latter having first intimated that suspicion fell upon a man who had been a short time iu the neighbourhood, evidently a vagrant. A large number of the police were started in pursuit iu different directions, and tbe various police-stations in the country were telegraphed to, and a hot chase ensued. The plaus were laid so that that the criminal should be completely surrounded. brum the description given by Mr. Koyer.-, Detective Jetl'rey wa3 convinced that his quarry was a inau named Sheldon, or Fi iget", wlio recently appeared befure the Supreme Cuurt on a charge of p:aeinej obstructions on the railway near Taupiri, for the purpose of throwing a train oil tlie track. We shall presently refer to the circumstances which threw suspicion on this man, after advertiug to tho losses themselves and the ascertained facts connected with the fires. They all appear to hare occurred between the hours of 3 aud 5 o'clock in the morning. The (irst blaze was evidently that on Mr. Charles b. Pratt s farm, at Manurowa, beyond the Raglan Hotel, I'apatoitoi, Great South Road. Mr. AioLeunau, proprietor of the hotel, observed u ilime at about 3 o clock iti the morning, but, as it was some distance oIF, aud he supposed it was only some scrub, he took no further notice of it. Ihe first to call Mr. Pratt's attention to the destruction of his property was Mr. Burnside, who lives on the opposite side of the Great South Road, but at this time the two stacks of wheat, which, for convenience, had been placed close to the road, had been burned to the ground, and only the smouldering t[tzbris remained. J. he value of these two stacks was £160, and Mr. Pratt was totally uninsured. Mr. Burnside only observed tha lire at 4.30 a.m., when he got up to miik hi 3 cows, aud of course no trace of the originator •'f the (ire could be seen iu the vicinity. He appears to have continued his de- | strustivc course towards Otahuhu, and next directed his attention to Mr. T. Ilogsrs's oat and hay-stacks, seven in number. These were the produce of about 100 acres, and had been, for convenience of threshing, stacked close to the roadside on Air. Mackay's farm. The estimated loss iu this instance is £1000. This lire is supposed to have commenced about 4 o'clock. The next tiro was a haystack containing about 30 tons, and worth £100, the property of Mr. Malcolm Taylor, of Otahulm. The stack was on the farm about hilt" a-rnile from Otahuhu. and nasJthe Scottish Cliurcn, and this must have been set tire to iu broad daylight. Just before this fire broke out, a man answering to the description of Fidgett was seen in the vicinity of the Scottish Church, where he had a brief conversation with Mr. Morrison, a blacksmith, from whom he begged a match, aud then went away. About 10 minutes afterward, Mr. Morrison saw the haystack in flames. The stack was, of course, consumed, and the loss in this instance is £100. There was no iusurance on any of the property destroyed. It may be easily gathered from the above that suspicion at once alighted on the man who had been seen by Mr. Morrison, and Mr. Rogers followed him up and succeeded ia tracing him as far as Penrose farm, where he lost all trace of him, aud he then came into town to inform the police, but when Mr. Uogers and Detective Jeffrey were returning together, the latter observed Fidgett, or Sheldon, at the railway crossing at Penrose. His description so accurately tallied with that which had been supplied that the detective at once arrested him and brought him to the Otahuhu Police Station, where he was locked up while the detective proceeded to investigate the circumstances, and the result is that there is a very strong circumstantial case against the accused. In addition to the facts already stated as being calculated to ideutify Fidgett with the incendiary work—such as his suspicions presence in the neighbourhood when Mr. Taylor's hay took fire, the following incidents have transpired. After his discharge from the Supreme Court trial for placing obstructions on the railway, Fidgett states that he went to YVaikato, but he does not appear to have remained long there, because, for the last fortnight, he has been in the neighbourhood of Otahuhu and Papatoitoi, aud has applied to several farmers for employment, bnt without success, and he recently made a singular threat to one of the settlers. It was to the effect that, if he did not get work, he would not beg, but would 1E burn the country Bide." Amongst others to whom he applied for work was Mr. Rogers, but he did not obtain employment. Siuce his arrest, he has admitted that he slept on Friday night under a haystack near Mr. fiogers's place, and shortly after the tira in Mr. Taylor's place, he was seen in Otahuhu, where he told a man that he had been walking all night, and he came from the direstion of the fires. When he wa3 arrested, he roandly abused Mr. Kogers, but made no admissions regarding the tires.

The prisoner i 3 a man of middle age, of robust frame. He lias only recently arrived in Auckland from Tauranga, where, we understand, he was several times convicted of vagrancy. Since hia arrival here he has also been convicted under the ' name of Sheldon, and his next public appearance was when prosecuted for placing obstructions on the railway, of which, it will be recollected, he was acquitted, as the evidence was not deemed sufficient to secure a conviction. Ha appears to have at one time occupied a good position in society, and wa3, we are informed, an officer in Her Majesty's Navy. At the recent trial, to which reference has a'ready been made, the conduct and manner of the man were such as to lead many who observed him to doubt his sanity, and hia conduct since his arrest tends to confirm that opinion. It is a inatt-r of doubt with many whether he is not better fitted to be an inmate of a lunatic asylum than of a gaol, lhe apparent want of motive for sncli wanton destruction of property is an argument in favour of this theory of insanity, but that is a question which 'will, no doubt, be investigated fully by the proper authorities.

Credit is duo to the police for the effective means taken to arrest the perpetrator of theße acts. Since the arrest, and up to the present, Detective Jeffrey has been indefatigably engaged in investigating tho circumstances of the case and collecting evidence, a somowhat difficult task, as the whole of it must necessarily be circumstantial.